Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling romance author Nana Malone recently achieved a major writing career milestone: the publication of her hundredth book, To Catch a Thief. Malone is also the creator of the Brown Nipple Challenge, an online monthly book club she started in 2020 to support romance novels written by women of color and introduce these books to the romance reading community who might not have heard of them. Each month, Malone selects a book and announces it on her site and Instagram account; then, she holds a book club discussion with the author and readers on her Instagram account. Then, participants can use the Instagram hashtag #BrownNippleChallenge to participate or start their own. Titles have included The Dating Plan by Sara Desai and The Road to Rose Bend by Naima Simone, among others. On her site, Malone writes that when she started her writing career, it became her mission statement “to feature women of color in my books, brown women like me with brown nipples.”
Residence 11 interviewed Malone about what got her interested in the romance genre, how she manages her prolific output, why she started the Brown Nipple Challenge, and what she’s working on next.
How long have you been writing romance and what drew you to the genre?
I’ve been writing romance for 20 years, though published for 11. I love love stories. I’m fascinated by relationships and the choices people make about partners. The if ands or buts of them. Why this person and not another?
Can you tell our readers about what the Brown Nipple Challenge is? When and why did you start it?
I started the #brownnipplechallenge a little over a year ago after the uprisings of last summer. I wanted to do something to combat the systemic bias and racism in my little corner of the world. But mostly, I wanted to uplift women who looked like me who were writing terrific stories of joy and love and hopefully give them a little exposure.
Romance can be a little like Hollywood. The vast majority of romance readers could maybe name you 3-4 romance authors of color…And it’s always the same ones. There is this false notion that there aren’t any authors of color writing romance out there. But there are legitimately thousands of authors who haven’t had the same opportunities for exposure as their non melanated counterparts, so I wanted to use my platform to give some of these authors exposure. Not to mention dismantle the belief that diverse stories have to be hard, or difficult. There is work to be done that will taste like vegetables. But romance is fun and love is love. I like to call it vitamin enriched cake!
What’s been the reaction to the Brown Nipple Challenge?
Overwhelming and so supportive. I never could have dreamed of the support I’d get for this initiative.
Why is it important to you to champion other women of color writing romance?
Because when I was growing up, in the books I loved to read, most of the women in those stories did not look like me. The messaging those books gave was that someone like me wasn’t beautiful, or deserving of love. I wanted to change that with my words. And in supporting other women of color, it ensures two things. One, that young women who look like me see themselves portrayed as lovable and strong and brilliant. And also gives the messaging to the broader community, that it is not unusual to see brown people in books. I want to normalize brown nipples in romance books. Not just pink ones.
What have you learned by doing the Brown Nipple Challenge?
That sometimes a community can surprise you and be really supportive. Also…that apparently I love Alien Romance. Taylor Vaughn’s His to Claim was amazing!
Since you started writing romance, has the industry become more welcoming to romance authors of color?
I think a little bit. Maybe not necessarily completely for altruistic reasons, but it has opened up a little. There still need to be more editors of color. And we still need to get away from this idea that there can only be one. (This isn’t Highlander, after all.) I just had an agent tell me that she already had a “writer like me.” We’re not here to fill check boxes. There is room for so many stories with different twists and perspectives.
You’ve self-published many of your romances. Why did you decide to go that route?
I’ve both traditionally published and done indie. Primarily it comes down to money and control. Historically I’ve earned way more money on the indie side. Plus I’ve gotten to tell the kind of stories that I want to tell, featuring the kind of women I want to feature.
You recently published your 100th romance, To Catch a Thief. Can you tell us more about the plot and what inspired it?
Yes! I still can’t believe it. To Catch a Thief is part of my larger London Lords World and that was inspired by my insane love of Robin Hood. I love this idea of righting wrongs, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, and justice. For Thief in particular, I’d just finished watching Gangs of London and I wanted to explore themes of the family you’re born into vs. the family you make. So at the center of To Catch a Thief is sibling rivalry. Two brothers at odds over a woman.
How did you manage to achieve such a huge accomplishment? What is your writing schedule like?
Ha! Pre-pandemic was much different than now. Now it’s usually 4 days a week of writing, then two days a week of admin and social media batch work. With ideally one day off. But my boss drives a hard schedule, lol.
This may be hard to answer, but do you have a favorite of the books you’ve written?
Gah! Why would you make me pick? Probably London Royal/London Soul and the See No Evil Trilogy because the heroines are Ghanaian like I am.
What do you wish you’d known when you started self-publishing?
To start my bloody newsletter straight away!
What advice do you have for aspiring romance authors?
Hone your craft. Social media will change. There will always be some new thing. But well written words last forever.
What are you working on next?
I’m finishing up my next trilogy in the London Lords World, The Speak No Evil Trilogy. The couple are so much fun and just so snappy. The hero is grumpy, alpha and thinks he’s always right. And my heroine has no time for his antics. It’s so fun!
To Catch a Thief is available from Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Nook and Google Play.
Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author, Nana Malone writes Sexy Feel-Good Romance and loves all things romance and adventure. That love started with a tattered romantic suspense she “borrowed” from her cousin. It was a sultry summer afternoon in Ghana, and Nana was a precocious thirteen. She’s been in love with kick butt heroines ever since. With her overactive imagination, and channeling her inner Buffy, it was only a matter a time before she started creating her own characters. Follow Nana Malone on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, BookBub and Goodreads.